Two suspects wanted over the murder of a man in Udon Thani last week have been arrested in Nong Khai.
Police identified the pair as Issaya Halmachad, a 41-year-old alleged loan shark, and her accomplice Angkhachet Phubutta, 40. Both are from Sakon Nakhon province.
They are accused of hiring a hit man to kill their former employee.
Nattanon Prachum, chief of Provincial Police Region 4 Investigation Division 1, said the arrests came after the charred body of Nongsak Sornnuchart, 43, was found with his motorcycle at a rubber plantation in Udon Thani's Wang Sam Mo district on Monday morning.
Nongsak was murdered before his body was set alight in the plantation, police said.
The alleged hit man, Dam Deeprom, was arrested late on Monday at the Nikhom Nam Un Hospital in Sakon Nakhon, where he was being treated for burns to his face and arms.
Pol Col Nattanon said the 60-year-old Sakon Nakhon native admitted to being paid 20,000 baht by Ms Issaya in exchange for killing Nongsak.
Both Mr Dam and Nongsak worked as debt collectors for Ms Issaya.
Ms Issaya allegedly told police she believed Nongsak had stolen 1.5 million baht in cash and Buddha amulets worth about 300,000 baht from a safety box in her house a week earlier.
Ms Issaya said she did not file a complaint with police because she wanted to track down the thief herself.
She noticed Nongsak's spending habits had changed and he had been giving generous tips to singers in bars, she said.
Ms Issaya and Mr Angkhachet allegedly hatched the murder plan by inviting the victim to have a drink at her house on Monday.
Police said Mr Dam, who was also at the house, clubbed Nongsak to death with a piece of wood before stuffing his body in the back of Ms Issaya's car.
They said Ms Issaya later drove to the rubber plantation and set fire to Nongsak's body before returning home.
Police said Mr Angkhachet and Mr Dam rode a motorcycle to the rubber plantation the next morning and set fire to the victim's body again to make sure it was completely destroyed.
However, while Mr Dam was burning the body, he accidentally set fire to his clothes.
The clothes went up in flames because they had gasoline on them, police said.
The three suspects have all been charged for their alleged roles in the murder and are being held in remand at Wang Sam Mo police station.